what about us | l.s.

epilogue

I love you. Three words. Eight letters. A phrase said in a split second that could change everything. Often a reason for frustration and the end of friendships.

The last time Louis Tomlinson said, "I love you" was to his best friend, Harry. He was 19 years old, and he was confessing his love for him. It was in frustration and through a flood of tears. That was when he began to hate love again. He exclaimed the expression with everything in him, and soon after it was just Louis and the shattered pieces of himself.

Louis realized the phrase meant nothing to Harry. He understood that Harry wouldn't love him the same way. Wouldn't love him at all. He distanced himself from love, never forming a proper relationship with anyone ever again.

When he met Harry, everything had changed. Harry became his 17-year-old disaster. He was clumsy and awkward, but he flourished under attention. Louis' attention.

The two boys used to be incredibly close, and they drifted apart until the end. It began with forgotten movie nights and expanded into late-night sobs from the bottom of Louis' broken heart.

Louis was an expert at forgetting people, however. He deleted their conversations and any pictures they had taken together. It hurt, but he thought he was protecting himself from additional pain in the future. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, none of his usual methods were working. Harry was a part of him, and wouldn't let Louis forget him so easily.

They used to spend all of their free time together, looking at the stars, savouring the calm. They vowed to stay together until their dying days, a strong promise from two teenage boys. But they didn't keep it, and only lasted two years. The best two years of Louis' life.

He just couldn't stop Harry from slipping away.